It’s a newfound luxury for many people: working from home. Although some careers have been doing their work from home long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many people have learned to live with the new reality that working from home (WFH) is probably a new norm for businesses.
Working from home offers excellent benefits, but also some tricky challenges—especially for people who live with others. Within the design industry, there are many professionals who work on corporate teams. They may have been in the office full-time or on a distributed team, with people working from multiple locations. Many are now working from home on a more permanent basis. Freelance Designers who own their own business work from home from the beginning.
Benefits of Working from Home As a Designer
When you think about being at home, you probably think about being comfortable, right? A place you can relax, be yourself, and wear your pajamas all day without someone judging you. When you add work into the equation, these benefits can actually be more appealing in some ways.
Being a Graphic Designer who works from home, you can wear whatever you want during the day. You can be comfortable and design a space in your home that inspires you. If you live in a small space, you can take your laptop and work from almost anywhere with Wi-Fi, which means you can visit places that inspire and interest you. Perhaps somewhere with neat design elements that make you want to dive into your next project.
Not to mention that when you’re the boss, you create your own schedule. There’s flexibility to take a longer lunch or to work at your favorite coffee shop in the afternoon. You can start as early or late as you like, as long as you can meet and respond to clients in a timely manner. When you can get your designs done and they’re the quality you feel confident sharing with your clients, it doesn’t matter if you work on them at 11 am or 11 pm. Likewise, it doesn’t matter if you put on your cutest top or rattiest pair of sweats.
11 WFH Focus Tips
A work-from-home setup can offer flexibility and comfort, but it can also present obstacles for staying focused. After all, when you work in the same place you binge watch Netflix, there have to be boundaries in place to make sure you can get your work done.
The good news is that there are simple ways to increase your focus when you’re working from home. They’re easy and you could even begin trying them today.
Get Rid of Notifications
Think about how many notifications you get on your phone each day. Depending on your job, how many people you work with, and the number of apps on your phone, it could be quite a few. With phones being a form of smart technology, and the near-constant communication in the digital world, each notification makes you want to see what you might miss.
Logically, it makes sense that when you turn off notifications you’ll be able to focus more deeply and get more done. Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University did a study about turning off notifications. It showed that, as a whole, the group was able to concentrate more and was less stressed than when they were attached to their phone for every notification.
When you work from home, it’s easy to get distracted. To give yourself an advantage, turn off notifications for all apps, including:
- Social media
- Messaging (unless you’re actively collaborating with someone)
Put a Sign on Your Door or Around Your Space
If you live with others, working from home can be challenging because there’s always someone there with you. This is especially true if you’re a caregiver for a child or elderly family member because sometimes there are things they need that they can’t do themselves.
If you have a project you need to focus on, tell the people you live with that you’re going to do a focused working session. Let them know how long you plan to work, and then put a sign on your door as a reminder that you’re unavailable except for emergencies.
If you can’t block everyone else out, like kids, get them set up with an activity that will last long enough for you to get your session done (if you can). If they get distracted or have a short attention span and they’re old enough to work on something semi-independently, consider having them “help you” by drawing a picture or solving a puzzle. Many times if a child feels like they’re helping out, they’re happy to try their best and put in a little extra time than they otherwise might.
Comfortable Attire
This might seem like a no-brainer, but working in clothes that are comfortable is a must when you’re at home all day. This doesn’t necessarily mean pajamas, but when you’re in your own space, you don’t necessarily have to dress in business or “office” attire.
There’s a happy medium between working in pajamas you’ve had for the last decade and working in a business suit. The ideal attire for WFH setups are pieces that:
- Keeps you the right temperature, not too hot or cold
- Won’t be irritating to your skin like itchy fabrics
- You don’t have to keep adjusting to be comfortable (i.e., socks or pants that constantly slip down no matter how little you move)
Blue light glasses are really helpful to keep your eyes from getting tired or getting a headache from screen time. Whether you wear glasses or not, there are affordable blue light-blocking options that will help keep your eyes fresh for all of your fun Design clients.
By the way, studies have shown that getting dressed in the morning when you work from home helps set or keep a morning routine, which is great for your mental health. It also helps create the mindset of getting ready to work and being productive. As you’re considering how you want to run your freelance design business, keep that in mind.
Apps to Prevent You from Procrastinating
Everyone has done it—taken a casual break from a project for a moment, but the moment turns into 30 minutes or an hour doing something random that has nothing to do with the project. Although breaks are important for everyone, especially freelancers, constantly getting distracted won’t help you succeed in your business.
The good news is that there are websites and apps to help you protect yourself from your procrastination. These tried and true helpers are sure to help you get off of social media, stop checking your email every 15 minutes, and get back to the design work you’re passionate about.
A few of the most helpful distraction-blocking apps include:
- Forest—Allows you to grow trees while you work. Set approved apps you’ll need while working, but everything else is off-limits. If you click on an unapproved app, Forest will prompt you to get back to work. If you don’t, your tree will wither and die. Bonus: while you plant trees in the app, the company plants trees in real-life.
- Freedom—Allows you to block the internet for up to eight hours. Choose what websites are allowed, but you’ll be prevented from going anywhere else on your phone or laptop.
- FocusMe—Allows you to block websites that may be distracting (like social media) for certain periods of time, or even forever. You can choose what you want to be able to access and when, with the added benefit that the program helps you build healthy routines for your work by reminding you about breaks and helping you set goals.
- Mindful Browsing—Allows you to install a browser extension to help you consider how you’re using your time. Tell the program what sites you want to be more mindful of and what you’d like to do more of and it will gently steer you in the right direction when you’re about to get distracted. This program is great if you don’t like blocking access to apps but want to be less distracted.
Mood Music
Having sound, whether it’s white noise, soft music, upbeat tunes, or even a favorite television show is important to many creatives. Music and sound help get your brain into a specific mindset, which can help you get or stay focused. For instance, listening to upbeat music in the morning to get excited and ready to start your day and listening to inspiring songs to get you thinking about current projects.
Having mood music is one of the easiest ways to help your focus because you can access many types of music for free. If you’re a music collector or like to go old-school with vinyl records or CDs, this can also act as an unobtrusive timer—when the album is done, you’ll likely have to get up and change it, which is a great time for a short break.
According to HubSpot, some of the most effective music for being productive is classical, nature sounds, feel good songs, and white noise. Jazz music and movie soundtracks offer good options for lyric-free listening as well. Spotify and Pandora both offer free online radio options where you can listen to mood music throughout your day. You can change it up for different projects, clients, or even times of day.
Identify Your Peak Working Times
One of the biggest tasks to keep yourself organized and focused when you’re working from home is identifying when you’re at your best. This means that you must figure out what times of the day you’re most:
- Alert
- Focused
- Inspired
- Ready to work
You might already know, which means you’re ahead of the game. If you don’t, there are a few simple ways to help you hone in on your peak working times. First, figure out where you spend your time now. When do you get the most done? The least? When do you feel inspired to work on new projects? Track your time for a few days or a week to see what you’re doing now. This will allow you to figure out how to maximize your focused time.
As you track your time, make a note of times you feel particularly passionate and alert. Likewise, note when you’re distracted and tired. The goal of making these notes is to identify times when you can do the best-focused work possible.
Most people have about two blocks of two hours where they’re working at their absolute best. This isn’t to say you can’t or won’t do productive work outside of this time, but that these hours are the time when you need to focus on your most important and complicated projects.
When you’ve figured out your most productive times, block these times for working sessions. Use them as time to work on projects and anything that requires extra focus, not client meetings. When you can harness your peak working times, you’ll find yourself expanding your skills and abilities and feeling even better about your design work.
Focused Work Sessions
In an office setting, there are often distractions everywhere you look: co-workers and management walking around, having meetings, printing out documents, and having casual conversations. This isn’t helpful when you’re trying to be productive, right? When you’re working from home, you don’t have the same distractions, but there are still distractions around. For instance, the pile of laundry that needs to be done and pets who want attention.
Design work takes concentration and creativity, which means you have to have time to do focused work without constant distractions. One popular method for doing focused work is the Pomodoro Technique. This technique utilizes 25-minute work sessions and short breaks to help people stay focused and be more productive.
Of course you can customize your focused work sessions to the length that works best for you. If an hour of work is easier because you’re working on a complex task, go for it. The main goal of focused work sessions is to make sure you have a specific task or set of tasks you’re working on without distractions like social media and email open in other tabs in your internet browser.
Prepare for Your Work Sessions
It’s easy to get into a work session and realize you don’t have everything you need. Or that you have to use the restroom. Or you need to do something “really quickly” that’s not what you’re supposed to be doing during your working session. These things come up for everyone.
To make the most of your work sessions, take a few minutes ahead of time to prepare. Make sure you:
- Take a bathroom break
- Stretch
- Get a drink
- Have tissues available if you need them
- Grab anything you’ll need to stay comfortable and focus (i.e., socks & a sweatshirt)
- Have the appropriate technology and chargers readily available in your workspace
Having these items prepared ahead of time will help ensure you have a productive session, or set of sessions, without being interrupted by avoidable distractions.
Take Frequent Breaks & Time Away from Work
When you’re working as a Freelance Designer, there will always be more work to do. There will be more tasks, more collaborations, and more administrative work than you, as one person, will have time for. Because of this, it can be tempting to work all the time, or quite a bit more than you would for an employer.
The reality is that no matter how busy or booked you are, you need breaks and time away from work. Your brain needs breaks. Your body needs breaks. When you take regular breaks, even naps, you can actually be more productive and feel more inspired than when you “push through.”
Some great ways to take non-work related breaks are:
- Stretching
- Taking a walk
- Playing with pets or having a chat with a friend
- Having a snack
- Getting a tea or coffee (or other beverage)
As you’re building your design business, make sure you leave time in your day for an adequate number of breaks, including lunch. Be mindful of when the breaks are and how long you can spend away from your work without getting derailed from productivity for the rest of the day.
Set a Routine to Follow
When you’re in an office environment or working as part of a team, it’s fairly easy to set up a routine. You likely have a time when you arrive and leave, and perhaps when you go to lunch. As you get used to that, your mind learns to expect the routine and begins to function differently than when you leave your time unstructured, for instance on vacation.
When you’re a Freelance Designer, you’re in charge of your own schedule and routine. While it may seem like a good idea to leave your time relatively unstructured, doing so can cause you to become less productive and overwhelmed at the amount to do. Your body and mind won’t have an idea of when they’re supposed to be working.
To avoid this overwhelm and loss of focus (which are not helpful to growing your design business), you need to create your own routine. You’ll want to create a consistent schedule and designated space for:
- Working hours
- Working space
- Lunch times
- Breaks
Creating a set of routines will help you get into a rhythm and not only be more productive but also become more successful as a business person.
Give Yourself Grace
When it comes to being a Designer, especially when you’re freelancing and building a business, the most important focus tip is to give yourself grace. That may seem counterproductive. After all, isn’t the best way to focus to actually do work?
Obviously work is important, but you can’t be productive every minute of every day. Some days you’ll feel off and that’s okay. During times when you don’t feel well or are simply having a bad day, you won’t be as focused or productive. One of the perks of being your own boss is being able to be flexible.
If you overwork and never take a break, or constantly feel bad about things you “should have known” your productivity will be lower. When you try to plow through work no matter how you feel, your work will be mediocre and you’ll become burned out more quickly and more intensely. When you take adequate breaks and give yourself grace, you’ll be more focused during the times when you’re doing focused work.
Before anything else, you’re a human learning how to do new things. You don’t know what you don’t know, and there’s always something to learn. When in doubt or feeling overwhelmed, take a moment and acknowledge that it’s okay to not know everything or be able to produce the amount you initially thought.
BONUS: an Underrated Focus Tip for Working from Home—Professional Development
One way to stay focused when you’re working from home is to learn. If you find yourself distracted or avoiding work, it could be because you need to challenge yourself to something new. Doing professional development and learning new skills is a great way to keep your mind engaged and still focused on your work.
There are many free graphic design courses to get you started. Noble Desktop has some great free seminars about topics such as social media marketing and the Adobe Creative Cloud.
If you’re ready to uplevel your Adobe design skills, Noble has graphic design courses for all levels of learners. From In a Day style courses to boot camps to certificates, there are plenty of ways to learn from an expert instructor.
If you’re looking to build your business skills, there are also a variety of business courses. At Noble, you can take courses live online or in-person at the campus in New York City. Either way, you get access to the same great professionals who have experience in their fields and are ready to answer your questions and help you grow as a Designer.